


Love and Mint Gum

by MahouBunnyBell



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Developing Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-12
Updated: 2008-04-12
Packaged: 2018-01-10 18:44:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1163194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MahouBunnyBell/pseuds/MahouBunnyBell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Puberty is tough on poor Choutarou. But things get better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love and Mint Gum

**Author's Note:**

> Old fic, written back in 2008, but hey, moving all my work over here! Hope that some people can still enjoy it, at least! I think it's still acceptable!

The first time that Choutarou realized there was something a little strange about himself was near the end of his second year in junior high, when Shishido-san plopped down beside him on a bench at tennis practice (Shishido really shouldn't have been there to begin with. He should have been studying for his entrance exams) and suddenly he found himself sporting a hard-on.

He managed to hide his awkward state from his friend until the other boy left for the locker room.

-

“Choutarou, are you okay?” His mother looked concerned when Choutarou returned home that night. Was how disturbed he was by this recent turn of events really that apparent?

Choutarou skipped dinner that night and went up to bed.

-

All of the sites he looked up online said the same thing. That as a teenage boy just about any and everything could turn him on, and not to worry about it. And so Choutarou pushed his embarrassment aside and went on with life.

Shishido was going to be leaving for high school soon anyway. He ought to be enjoying his time with the other boy, and not worrying that he might have feelings for him.

Three weeks later Shishido graduated. 

-

“Oh come on, Choutarou. Don't look so bummed out. In just a year you'll be in high school too!” Shishido insisted in an attempt to cheer Choutarou up. Choutarou thought that Shishido looked a lot more upset than he did about graduating. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he'd been scowling more than usual lately.

“Of course, Shishido-san. And we can still spend time together on the weekends.”

It was a promise that they'd both made a thousand times over the past couple of months. Being separated was going to be hard on them both, after how much they'd been through together.

Choutarou felt like he was losing Shishido, even though he knew that they would see each other again soon and then he'd be in high school too and things would return to normal. At least he knew he wasn't alone in that feeling. Shishido was just as upset as he was.

“Yeah. I guess I'll just play singles until you catch up to me, but we have to keep our doubles game strong.”

“Yeah. We can do it.” Choutarou knew that they could. They had to.

“So I guess I'll see you Sunday, then.”

“Yes, Shishido-san.”

The awkward silence between the two of them lasted until Choutarou turned to go home. There really wasn't much more that they could say.

-

On his way home Choutarou ran into Oshitari and Mukahi making out under the bleachers. He left before either of them had the chance to notice him and make any teasing comments.

-

“It sure is quiet here with all the sempai gone.”

Choutarou looked at Hiyoshi and blinked a little, surprised that the other boy would be offering any kind of complaint over everyone leaving. He'd never seemed all that attached to any of the older boys on the team, other than expressing a desire to overcome them.

“It's going to get noisier, though, buchou.” Another member of the tennis team- Hamaji, he'd been one of the ones to move up to regulars now that they were the third years- pointed out, gesturing towards the line of new freshmen that were gathering for club orientation.

-

Choutarou was assigned a group of ten or so freshmen to help get them acquainted with the tennis club - it was something that the regulars did every year. There were just too many freshmen members to show them around all in one group, after all.

In his freshman year Choutarou had been in a group led by some bulky third year boy that was off the regulars within a week. He felt kind of bad that he couldn't remember the face of the sempai that had helped him. All he really remembered from that was seeing Shishido-san for the first time. He had been captivated by Shishido's hair.

Shishido had told him to stop gawking and called him a gangly freak. Choutarou had been hurt by that comment and afraid to talk to Shishido for several months, until he had figured out that Shishido had just said it because he was jealous that Choutarou was so tall.

Choutarou had always thought that was kind of silly. Shishido-san looked much better the way he was.

-

Choutarou was assigned a kohai to help out in orchestra too. Only one this time, though. His name was Iida Takahiro, and he was a nice boy. Shy and reserved, which was an unusual trait for students at Hyotei.

Iida-kun played the piano very well. Choutarou decided that he was going to like being his sempai.

-

Choutarou wanted to call Shishido and tell him about school- about the freshmen that seemed promising, and how Kabaji looked so utterly lost without Atobe there to bark commands at him all day- but he wasn't sure if it was a good idea. After all, Shishido was probably busy getting used to his new school, and it wasn't like they wouldn't see each other in a couple days, after all.

Choutarou sighed and took the stick of cool mint gum that he carried- Shishido-san always gave him a stick but he didn't care much for it- out of his bag, smelling it and thinking about Shishido-san. He chewed this stuff all the time, and always had at least a pack on him. Sometimes Choutarou suspected that if left to his own devices Shishido would just live off of cheese sandwiches and mint gum. That couldn't be a very healthy diet.

Imagining Shishido after a few months on a cheese sandwich and mint gum diet was pretty amusing, and Choutarou managed to get out a chuckle as he managed to pull himself away from the phone and over to his desk to do some studying.

As he unwrapped the stick of gum and popped it in his mouth Choutarou couldn't help but absently wonder if this was what Shishido-san tasted like.

-

An hour later Shishido-san called him.

Choutarou couldn't stop blushing even as he listened diligently to the sound of Shishido's voice as he told him about Atobe having to pick up balls at tennis practice.

-

He didn't think that it could happen, but Choutarou was actually glad that he didn't have to see Shishido the next day at school. It gave him some time to regain his composure before he saw Shishido again this weekend.

Choutarou decided that he really hated puberty.

-

On his way home Choutarou bought himself a pack of cool mint gum.

-

By Sunday Choutarou had managed to push his strange thoughts to the back of his head and was just looking forward to seeing his best friend again after a long week apart. He arrived at the street courts a whole half hour early, just to be sure that he made it there in time.

Kaidoh from Seigaku was waiting at the courts as well. The two of them ended up waiting together and talking, even though Kaidoh seemed a little irritable and kept hissing.

“Inui-sempai still makes training menus for me, even though he's in high school now. I'm waiting for him,” Kaidoh explained. Choutarou smiled a little, glad to know that he wasn't the only one that was waiting for his former sempai today.

-

Choutarou and Shishido ended up playing a match against the Inui-Kaidoh pair once Shishido and Inui arrived. They won, and after that the two of them went out for lunch together. It was just like usual for the two of them.

“I've missed hanging out with you, y'know? High school's kind of lame without you there.”

Shishido's confession of this makes Choutarou's stomach flutter a little, though he couldn't really figure out why. It was just good to know that he was wanted.

Shishido popped a stick of gum into his mouth and offered Choutarou a piece. Choutarou took it even though he had a pack of his own in his bag beside his sketchbook. For some reason the pieces he got from Shishido just tasted better.

-

“You seem happier today, Ohtori-sempai! I was a little worried. Last week you seemed kind of upset,” Iida-kun offered up at morning practice, after the two of them had finished playing a duet together. Iida was a nice guy.

“Yeah, I was just missing a friend of mine that had graduated. But I think things are going okay for me now,” Choutarou replied, carefully putting his violin back in its case and offering his kohai a smile for being such a good person. Iida grinned back, all wide-eyed innocence and care.

Having someone look up to you was a good feeling.

He hoped he made Shishido-san feel this good.

-

The next few weeks passed quickly and uneventfully. Every Sunday Shishido and Choutarou met up to play tennis- often against the Inui-Kaidoh pair, as their meet-up time and spot seemed to be the same as their own- and then they would hang out together after the game, often getting lunch or going over to Shishido's house to play video games in the evening. During the week Choutarou would focus on his music and tennis, studying in the evening while he chewed a stick of gum and looked forward to Sunday.

It all blurred into something normal enough that Choutarou was able to ignore the funny feeling in the pit of his stomach and the strange dreams that he was starting to have about playing tennis with Shishido. He always awoke from those dreams in a very embarrassing state.

-

One night Choutarou's older sister pulled him aside after dinner and gave him a concerned look and a pat on the back. “You're at a hard age, Choutan,” she declared, and promised that she'd be there if he ever needed to talk about anything.

She left a brown paper bag on his bed the next day. Inside the bag were magazines with pictures that made Choutarou blush so red that he suspected he was never going to return to normal.

The buxom women in the magazine didn't do anything for him, however.

-

“So this girl from second year asked me out.” Choutarou nearly choked on the sandwich he was eating, but managed to swallow at the last minute. Shishido looked a little concerned and reached over to pat him on the back. “You okay, Choutarou? You forget how to eat or something?”

Choutarou managed to shake his head and force himself to calm down a little. The unhappy feeling in the pit of his stomach wouldn't go away, though. And he really didn't have any idea as to why.

“So anyway, this girl asked me out. Hasumi Sonoko-chan. Do you remember her from when you were in first year? She remembers you. Then again, everyone does, with how tall you are.”

It was Shishido's hair, Choutarou decided. It was growing out again and Shishido was starting to regain his popularity with the girls. It shouldn't bother him at all. Shishido was still going to be his friend, even if he had a girlfriend. Shishido probably didn't even like this girl- it happened in the past that girls asked him out and he told Choutarou about it and laughed about how he turned them down.

“...I said yes.”

-

Choutarou felt like Shishido ripped his heart out and trampled on it, even though he knew there was no way that Shishido could have known that this news would hurt him. Choutarou hadn't even known that this news would hurt him. He cried into his pillow until he fell asleep.

That night he dreamt of kissing Shishido-san, and when he woke up he smelled a piece of cool mint gum and stroked his erection until he came.

-

The next day he called and left a voice mail on Shishido's cell phone saying that he's busy the upcoming Sunday and won't be able to make it to their usual rendezvous. When Shishido tried to call him back later to ask why, Choutarou doesn't answer.

-

“Shishido-sempai called me last night wanting to know if you're sick or something. Apparently you haven't been answering his calls.” Hiyoshi sounded extremely exasperated at having to step in on his friend's life like this. It was almost a week since Shishido told him about his new girlfriend. It was Friday now. “Are you two having a fight or something?”

“No. Some things just came up and I haven't been able to talk with him.”

Hiyoshi didn't look like he believed that at all, but shrugged it off and asked if Choutarou wanted to go get a soda or something after practice today. Choutarou accepted - it would be rude to turn down Hiyoshi's attempt to cheer him up.

He wondered if his internal strife was this visible to everyone.

-

That night Choutarou called Shishido. They ended up talking about all kinds of stupid things for almost two hours. The girlfriend was mentioned once or twice, but never for long. Choutarou swore to himself that he could endure her existence as long as Shishido was happy and they could still be best friends.

Choutarou assured Shishido that the only reason he was missing their Sunday get together was because his sister had a piano recital and he wanted to attend. Shishido seemed to believe this. He always had been rather gullible.

When Shishido finally hung up for the night Choutarou touched himself while thinking about the older boy, trying to force himself not to feel guilty afterwards.

-

“I'm... in love with Shishido-san,” Choutarou confessed after practice that Monday. He was sitting inside an ice cream parlor with Hiyoshi, paying him back for his kindness last week when he was still upset. Hiyoshi just looked at him like he was stupid or something.

“Well, yeah.”

“Oh. You knew?”

“Everyone did. Well, except Shishido-sempai. And you, apparently. Mukahi-sempai's been taking bets on when Shishido-sempai's going to figure it out.”

Choutarou just kind of stared at the other boy. All this time everyone had known? And they were betting on it?

In a moment very uncharacteristic of himself Choutarou found himself wishing that Hiyoshi would lose one of his contacts somewhere troublesome, like the train station or something. But then he realized what he was wishing and took it back. Because he was a nice boy.

At least Shishido-san didn't seem to be catching on at all.

-

A couple days later Choutarou found himself heading over to the high school once practice ended, hoping that maybe practice would still be going on there and he could watch for a bit. It wasn't something that he had planned to do; it had just happened.

Practice was out after all when he got there, so Choutarou just stood on the other side of the fences for a while and stared at the empty court. Next year he and Shishido would play together on this court, right? Nothing was going to change that.

“Hey! It's Ohtori!” Mukahi's voice jarred Choutarou out of his thoughts, and he turned to politely greet his sempai. Oshitari was there too - Choutarou wasn't sure that he wanted to know what they had been doing up until he got here.

Mukahi's fly was undone, and Oshitari's shirt was unbuttoned, so what they had been doing was pretty obvious.

“If you're looking for Shishido he already left,” Mukahi piped up again, stretching a little and just about plastering himself to Oshitari's side. Choutarou's cheeks flared up a little and he forced himself to look away from the scene before him. “We'll tell him you stopped by, though. I'm sure he'll be happy.”

“It's okay. I didn't come here just to see Shishido-san. I thought it would be nice to see everyone again,” Choutarou insisted, even though he knew in the pit of his stomach that it wasn't true. He didn't fool Mukahi or Oshitari for a minute.

Oshitari invited him along to get some takoyaki with the two of them, but Choutarou turned them down, mostly because if he was spending an afternoon alone with Shishido he wouldn't want other people disturbing them.

-

“Gakuto said that you stopped by school the other day to see me! You should have told me you were coming in advance or have called on the way over or something. I'd have hung around to wait for you to get there.”

Choutarou blinked and looked at the boy standing in his doorway. It was nine-thirty on Saturday night. Shishido stretched and walked right over to his bed to sit down and make himself right at home. Choutarou begged his body not to get any funny ideas from seeing Shishido sitting on his bed.

“I'm sorry, Shishido-san. I really wasn't planning to stop by your school. It just...”

“It just happened, huh?”

Choutarou couldn't help but crack a smile at that. It felt good that Shishido still understood him so well, even if he really didn't understand himself anymore. For the first time in what seemed like forever he felt really happy.

“You haven't come over here in a long time, Shishido-san.”

“Tell me about it! Your mom and sister just about swarmed me when I showed up at your door!”

“That's because you've always been such a good sempai! You're always welcome at my house, Shishido-san!”

Shishido laughed at that, and Choutarou couldn't help but smile too. Shishido was always adamant that he wasn't a particularly good sempai or anything, even though Choutarou knew this to be false. As far as he was concerned, Shishido was the best sempai ever. He was just modest on top of it all.

“Good sempai, huh? I was an ass to you until I figured out that I could benefit from being nice to you,” Shishido grumbled. Choutarou smiled and reached out to pat Shishido's hair. It was soft and silky. Choutarou liked the texture.

“You didn't mean to be mean or anything, Shishido-san. You're just a little... blunt sometimes.” It was one of the things that made Shishido so appealing, but he wasn't going to say that part out loud.

Shishido dug around in his pocket and pulled out a pack of gum, pulling out a stick for himself and popping it into his mouth before offering Choutarou one. It was warm from being pressed against Shishido's body. Choutarou slipped it in his own pocket to keep it from cooling off.

-

Shishido stayed over talking with Choutarou until almost eleven PM, at which time he insisted that he had to get going home. Before he left he turned to Choutarou and made a rather awkward sounding confession.

“I had sex with Sonoko last week. It was kinda lame. Not bad or anything. Just not as good as people make it sound.”

Choutarou didn't know how to react to that information, but he spent the rest of the night wondering what it would be like to have sex with Shishido. Even though he wasn't really sure how sex between two men worked.

-

A quick internet search around one AM answered any questions that Choutarou might have had on that topic.

The porn that it helped him uncover was a lot more appealing than the magazines his sister had given him too.

-

He had bags under his eyes the next day when he met with Shishido for tennis. His sempai apologized profusely for staying over so late and interrupting his sleep. He found this mildly amusing, as it was Shishido that kept him awake - just not in the way that Shishido thought.

After tennis they went over to Shishido's house to play video games and Choutarou ended up falling asleep on the couch.

-

Shishido called again to talk later that week and mentioned offhand that he had ended up breaking up with his girlfriend.

“I guess I just wasn't as into her as I thought. You know, sometimes I wonder if maybe there's something wrong with me. The way Kei-nii goes on about it you'd think there was. All because I don't want to spend all my time messing around with some chick.”

Choutarou assured Shishido-san that he was perfectly normal and tried not to get his hopes up because his hopes were only good for something if he confessed his feelings to Shishido. And that was just something that he couldn't do, because if Shishido didn't feel the same- and really, why would he?- then their friendship would be ruined.

That would be worse than Shishido dating a million girls.

-

There was a concert coming up in orchestra, and suddenly Choutarou found his time monopolized preparing for it. He had first chair violin this year, and that was a big honor.

He was so busy preparing that he had to miss some tennis practices. He might end up dropped from the regulars, but that was fine with him. He had no real intention of playing seriously again until he was in high school with Shishido. His real talent lay in doubles anyway.

Iida-kun wouldn't be playing in this production because he was a freshman, but he attended every one of Choutarou's practices to cheer him on earnestly, and afterwards talked to Choutarou about all kinds of random things. Choutarou told him about Shishido- not his feelings for him, but just about Shishido- and Iida smiled and said that he sounded funny but he wass glad that Ohtori-sempai had such a good friend. And then he asked Choutarou if he was inviting Shishido to the performance.

Choutarou really wasn't sure.

-

Choutarou was surprised when Shishido showed up at his house without any warning again that evening, holding a tote bag stuffed with more than just the mint gum and pictures of his pet dog that Shishido usually carried.

“I got into an argument with my parents over some lame shit. Is it okay if I stay here for the night?”

Choutarou was a little concerned over the situation, but in the end he consented and went to ask his parents' permission for Shishido to stay over for the night. He was sure that whatever Shishido and his family were arguing about, that things would be better tomorrow. Sometimes Shishido just needed time to calm down.

-

Shishido-san clipped his hair out of his eyes with barrettes while he studied. Choutarou took out his sketchbook and colored pencils and drew a rough picture of it. It was not the best drawing ever- Choutarou wasn't as skilled at drawing as he was at music and tennis- but it was still good.

Shishido stopped his studying and watched Choutarou work on his drawing after a bit, his face scrunched into an unreadable expression as he did so.

It embarrassed Choutarou enough that he closed his sketchbook and looked over towards the clock, desperate for a way out of this situation.

“It's getting late, Shishido-san. Why don't we take our baths and get to bed?” he suggests awkwardly, moving to go retrieve two towels from the closet and to escape from Shishido's gaze. “You can bathe first, since you're the guest-”

“...I told my parents I'm gay,” Shishido declared, cutting him off.

Choutarou was dumbfounded. For a moment he was sure that this was some kind of twisted fantasy of his, and it was tempting to try to pinch himself in order to see if he was just dreaming. But then Shishido was talking again.

“-It's not going to change stuff or anything. I just thought that you ought to know, seeing as you're my best friend and everything.”

An awkward silence followed that while Choutarou grappled with himself to find the right words to respond with. Gay or not, he suspected that replying with ”This is wonderful because I'm gay too and so totally in love with you that I've been masturbating to the scent of mint gum for the past few weeks” might be coming on a little too strong. In the end he settled for something a little milder, just to test the water.

“Oh. How did you know?”

“It's just, well... I kinda suspected it for awhile, and then the thing with Sonoko-chan pretty much confirmed everything,” Shishido replied with a shrug, looking totally embarrassed over talking about this. Choutarou found it a little funny just because Shishido had seemed comfortable enough informing him when he and his girlfriend had just had sex. “You aren't going to stop hanging out with me or anything now, are you?”

“Of course not, Shishido-san!” Choutarou assured him as earnestly as possibly, before managing to croak out the other question that was weighing on his mind. “Is there someone that you... like, Shishido-san?”

He had wanted to ask if Shishido liked him, but in the end he just couldn't phrase it that way.

Shishido choked on his gum and turned several shades of red, and suddenly Choutarou just knew, even without Shishido's reply. And so he did the first thing that came to mind-

He kissed Shishido.

-

Kissing Shishido didn't taste as much like mint gum as Choutarou had expected. And it really wasn't the most stellar kiss either. Their teeth bumped together and their noses got in the way. But overall, Choutarou thought that it was the best kiss ever.

-

Shishido's cell phone alarm woke Choutarou up early the next day, and Choutarou watched sleepily as Shishido got ready for school.

“You're going back home after school, right?” he asked, feeling concern coil in the pit of his stomach. If Shishido and his family had fought about his orientation yesterday it meant that they didn't approve of it. Shishido shrugged and dug around in his bag more in search of a pair of clean socks.

“Don't worry about it, Choutarou. They'll get used to it.” Shishido frowned a little as he still failed to find his socks, before getting up and heading to Choutarou's dresser to 'borrow' a pair. Choutarou let out a small chuckle over that.

Before Shishido-san left for school Choutarou asked him about the upcoming concert.

“I'm going to have to miss our Sunday practice because of it, so I was wondering if you wanted to-”

“Of course I want to come. I mean, you're my boyfriend now, right? It'd be lame to miss something important to you like that!” Shishido replied, looking a little insulted that Choutarou would even question his wanting to come to begin with.

Shishido leaned up on his tiptoes and gave Choutarou a peck on the cheek before he left to school.

-

Choutarou smiled all though school that day.

During practice that afternoon Hiyoshi had to pull him aside and ask him to tone it down a little as it was starting to creep the freshmen out.

-

In some ways Sunday came too fast; in others it didn't come fast enough.

On one hand Choutarou was looking forward to seeing Shishido again - the few days since Shishido's confession had seemed to last an eternity, and Choutarou wanted to see him again more than anything. But having Shishido watch him play also made him several times more nervous than he would have been otherwise. In the end there was no way for Choutarou to back out, though.

He gave the best performance that he could muster.

-

After his performance Shishido insisted on dragging Choutarou out for a 'congratulatory dinner'. Neither of them had the courage to call it what it really was.

A date.

-

After a few weeks it became clear to Choutarou that dating Shishido-san really wasn't all that different from being Shishido's best friend. Sure, there were a few stolen kisses after practice on Sunday, and other than the dinner after his concert Shishido had taken him out for burgers a couple other times, but in general things were just the same.

It was a little frustrating, even though it made Choutarou feel bad to think that. It was just... he had kind of expected a little more out of being involved with Shishido-san.

If anything he just needed his pack of cool mint gum and his fantasies more than anything now. Especially after Shishido felt the need to give him a goodbye kiss before he headed home (the two of them never went over to Shishido's house anymore, even if he did have the best video games) that Sunday evening.

Shishido could have sex with that girl he went out with, so why did they seem to be stuck in such a rut?!

-

The older boy did his best not to laugh after Choutarou explained his problem. He needed advice and couldn't think of anyone better to talk to. Well, at least not anyone that he knew had at least some experience in this field.

Still, maybe coming to Mukahi-sempai of all people hadn't been the best of ideas.

“It's not funny, Mukahi-sempai! It's getting to be a... real problem!” Choutarou insisted, tugging on the cross that he wore around his neck and staring at the melting bowl of ice cream in front of him in a desperate attempt to control his embarrassment. It wasn't working very well.

Gakuto just snorted something that sounded a little too much like insisting that it was pretty damn funny before talking a bite of his own ice cream and getting down to business.

“Shishido probably doesn't even realize that you're interested in doing more with him, really. He's kind of an idiot.”

Choutarou had to admit that he was right about that.

-

That Sunday Shishido never showed at the street courts. Choutarou called his phone a couple times, but Shishido's phone must have been turned off - it went straight to voicemail.

“My data doesn't indicate that the two of you are arguing or anything. Perhaps you should stop by his house and make sure he's okay?” Inui suggested, flipping through one of his notebooks and jotting some things down. Choutarou didn't want to know why the boy from Seigaku has been keeping data on him and Shishido-san.

Kaidoh gave him an apologetic look and hissed at Inui to just mind his own business for once.

-

In the end Choutarou took Inui's advice and headed for Shishido's house. But once he got there he wasn't too sure what he should do. He hadn't been here since Shishido came out to his parents. He assumed from the way that Shishido acted that he wasn't wanted here anymore.

Choutarou had a hard time imagining that. Shishido-san's family had always been very kind to him. They insisted that he was a good influence.

-

When he finally rang the doorbell Shishido's mother answered the door.

“Oh... Ohtori-kun...” She seemed as unsure of how to act as Choutarou felt. But in the end she opened the door a little wider and invited him inside with obviously forced enthusiasm. “You're here for Ryou, I assume? The two of you do usually spend your Sundays together.”

Choutarou nodded politely, and wondered what he should do in a situation like this. Should he apologize for being involved with this woman's son?

“Ryou's come down with some sort of bug. I probably should have called and told you when it happened, but it just totally slipped my mind,” the woman confessed. “I'll be sure to tell him that you stopped by to check on him, though.”

“Thank you, Ma'am,” Choutarou replied, bowing a little and turning to leave. He hoped that Shishido-san felt better soon, but he wanted to escape this place as soon as he can.

-

“Mom said you stopped by while I was sick. I'm sorry, Choutarou. I must have worried you.”

It was Tuesday evening, and Shishido was waiting for him in front of his house when he arrived home from practice. The other boy must have skipped his own practice in order to get here in time to do that.

It kind of flattered Choutarou.

“It's okay, Shishido-san. I'm glad you're feeling better, though!” Choutarou swore, flashing Shishido a bright smile. The other boy blushed a little in response. That's cute, Choutarou thought. Shishido-san could just be so adorable sometimes. “Would you like to come inside for awhile?”

Shishido agreed, of course.

-

On their way up to Choutarou's room the boys had the misfortune of running into Choutarou's older sister. Well, Choutarou viewed it as a misfortune, anyway. Not that he disliked his sister or anything- she was a good person and always did her best to look out for him- but she tended to pry a little too much. And go out of her way to embarrass him.

His mother always swore that was just an older sister's job.

“Oh! Ryou-chan! Choutarou didn't mention that you were coming over today. It's my night to make dinner- should I make extra for you?” she asked cheerily, reaching out to ruffle Shishido's hair in a manner that even Choutarou was reluctant to do.

Shishido let her. He was always talking about how lucky Choutarou was to have a big sister instead of a big brother.

“I guess, Shouko-san. If I'm not intruding or anything.”

“Of course not. You're my cute little brother's favorite sempai, after all. That practically makes you part of the family.”

Choutarou felt about ready to die of embarrassment.

-

When they finally made it to his room Choutarou pinned Shishido to the wall and kissed him hard, as if he hadn't been near him in forever. That's what it was starting to feel like, anyway. Shishido squirmed against him and kissed back, so maybe he felt the same way too.

Somewhere along the line they ended up on Choutarou's bed, kissing each other until they were both hard - Choutarou could feel Shishido's erection pressing into his stomach. It was further than the two of them had ever gone before, and Choutarou really loved it.

“Damn, Choutarou. What's gotten into you?” Shishido managed to pant out between kisses, his hands sliding up under Choutarou's shirt as he got the words out. Choutarou briefly wondered why he was even wearing the shirt to begin with. Wouldn't it be better if they were both naked? Then there would be nothing separating the two of them at all.

“I can stop if you want,” Choutarou replied, even though he knew that it was an utter lie. Shishido didn't seem to understand that though, even as Choutarou's fingers were ghosting over the hem of his pants.

“Do and I'll never speak to you again!” he growled out, looking- as Choutarou saw it, at least- utterly stunning in the process. Shishido-san wanted this as much as he did, and it felt wonderful. Kissing Shishido again, Choutarou stuck his hand into the other boy's pants to stroke his erection in his palm.

That's when the door swung open and Shouko-nee stuck her head in to tell them that it was time for dinner.

Her surprised yell could probably be heard several houses away, Choutarou reflected.

-

The Ohtori family coped much better with the news of their son's sexual preference than Shishido's family had. That was something of a relief, Choutarou had to admit. It still didn't make his father's rather awkward version of the facts of life for little gay boys any easier to bear, though.

In the end Choutarou just swore that yes, he would use a condom when he and Shishido decided to go all the way, even though they were both guys. And then he headed up to his room to hide for the rest of his life.

“I guess I gave you the wrong kind of magazines, huh?” his sister commented and he hurried up the stairs past her.

-

Two days later Choutarou came home to find a box of condoms and a bottle of lubricant sitting on his pillow. He wanted to die of embarrassment all over again.

-

“So... Your family isn't mad at me or anything, are they?”

It was Sunday, but instead of their usual trip to the street courts the two of them were sitting awkwardly beside the pool at Atobe's mansion. The charismatic boy had decided last minute to throw some kind of get together and all of the former regulars were left with no way out. Not that it was so bad to see everyone again.

“No, they aren't upset or anything, Shishido-san. They were just a little surprised.” Choutarou didn't mention the talk he got or his sister's latest 'gift' for him. That would just embarrass Shishido too, and as cute as Shishido was while blushing and stuttering, he didn't think that the other boy would appreciate doing it in front of all of their teammates.

A little while later Jirou-sempai plopped down beside them and declared that he had three thousand yen riding on them doing it within a week so they better get a move on.

Choutarou spent the rest of the party trying to help Atobe keep Shishido from murdering the volley specialist.

-

After the party ended the two boys headed back to Choutarou's place again. This time Choutarou made sure that all of his family were otherwise occupied before he took Shishido up to his room to make out with.

The two boys kissed and stroked each other until they both came, soiling their underwear in the process. When they were done Shishido made a face and resorted to taking off his underwear in order to stay comfortable. Choutarou loaned him a pair of boxers that were too big on Shishido's smaller frame and promised that next time they'd be more careful not to make a mess.

Shishido-san didn't seem at all opposed to there being a next time.

-

The next time was two weeks later, after their tennis practice while Choutarou was taking his turn showering before the two of them hung out.

“You don't mind if I join you, right? I can help you wash and stuff,” Shishido proposed, slipping into the bath room behind him and startling Choutarou so badly that he almost fell off of the small stool that he sat on while he washed himself off. This was the most aggressive that Shishido had been in the entire time they were dating.

He didn't mind, though. Especially not when Shishido took that part of him into his mouth. Although he failed to see how that constituted 'cleaning' in the least.

-

“So, I was wondering if you wanted to come over this weekend.”

Choutarou blinked a little. It had been almost three months since the first blow-job in the bathroom, and his relationship with Shishido was still going strong. But not strong enough that he'd gone back over to Shishido's house again. From what he'd heard from his boyfriend, said boyfriend's family still wasn't dealing too well with him being involved with a guy.

“...Huh? But Shishido-san-”

“Call me Ryou already! Anyway, my parents are going to be out of town until like, Tuesday night. Visiting my great aunt or something. And Kei-nii says that he's willing to go spend the weekend with his girlfriend if I want to invite you over,” Shishido replied, rolling onto his back and discarding the book that he had been trying to study from in favor of starting at the ceiling lamp and trying to force his blush down. Choutarou's mouth opened in a little 'o' shape.

“You mean-”

“You want to, right? I mean, it's fine with me if you don't want to come over.” Choutarou noticed the note of disappointment in Shishido's voice as he said this, though, and moved on top of Shishido to hug him tightly and bury his face in Shishido's hair. It smelled faintly of that mint gum that Shishido chewed.

“Of course I want to come over!” Choutarou insisted, his hands moving to unhook the fly of Shishido's pants while his lips moved to start trailing little kisses down Shishido's neck. Shishido squirmed some, attempting to regain at least a little control of the situation.

Choutarou had to admit, he tended to be the dominant one. Mostly because even in private Shishido got flustered over things like this. Choutarou didn't see any reason to be embarrassed when it was just Shishido-san, though.

Choutarou jerked them off together, his hand slicked up with some of the lubricant that his sister had left on his pillow months ago, and when he was done he mopped up their mess with a handful of tissues and curled up lazily beside Shishido on the floor. Shishido got up for a moment to grab a stick of gum to chew on, tossing one at Choutarou as well before returning for the cuddling that he knew Choutarou thrived on.

“So yeah. I guess you're going to end up on top. I don't mind or anything, but you better make me feel good too!” Shishido griped lightheartedly, his way of protecting his pride from the fact that he'd somehow ended up in the female position in their sexual relationship. Choutarou just chuckled a little, still sated from his orgasm.

“I always make you feel good, Shishido-san!” He insisted, and Shishido twitched some.

“And while you're doing it you better call me Ryou, at least! Honestly, calling your boyfriend by his family name is just lame, Choutarou!”

-

The next night at dinner Choutarou told his parents that he was going to go spend the weekend at Shishido's house this weekend, if it was okay with them. His parents seemed shocked- they'd caught on to the fact that his boyfriend's parents weren't as okay with the situation as he was, and had noticed that he'd stopped visiting their house.

Shouko-nee is a little more perceptive, though.

“You still have the condoms I gave you, right?” she asked right there at the table in front of their parents. “Those should fit you, I think, unless yours is a lot bigger than my boyfriend's is.”

His mother choked on the bite of fried fish that she was chewing. His father got a looks on his face that was a strange mix of shock over the knowledge that his daughter was having sex and the knowledge that his son was going to be having sex.

For a moment Choutarou wished that he could just drown himself in the bowl of miso soup that his mother served with his dinner. But then he'd die without ever having been able to actually stick it in Shishido, and his hormone-controlled brain told him that just wouldn't be acceptable.

After dinner his parents gave him the safe sex talk again. He was able to deal with it better this time just because he knew that his sister was getting the heterosexual version right after him.

-

The rest of the week seemed to pass in the same too-fast, too-slow haze that had preceded his concert earlier that year. It was silly - with all he and Shishido had done he didn't have any reason to consider this a giant step for their relationship or anything, but for some reason it really was. He discussed it with Hiyoshi at lunch on Friday and Hiyoshi just shrugged and told him that they should have done it sooner because his bet was on them doing it by last month.

Choutarou had to wonder why his friends kept betting on his relationship.

-

“Does it hurt?”

It was Saturday now, and Choutarou was with Shishido on his bed, both of them naked and Choutarou fingering the other boy's ass. It was really surreal, and not quite as amazing as Choutarou expected it all to be. Of course, neither Shishido or he himself had any idea how to go about this. They just ate dinner and bathed and sat around awkwardly until Choutarou's restraint finally snapped and ended it in this.

“It's okay,” Shishido responded roughly. He was adjusting to the fingers now, that's a good thing, right? Choutarou wasn't sure how much of this preparing he was supposed to do before actually sticking it in, but he didn't think he could last much longer.

“I'm... I'm going to put it in now, okay, Shishido-san?”

“Not if you're calling me tha-Aah!” Shishido panted as Choutarou's fingers brushed against something inside of him, and his whole body shuddered a moment later. It was captivating, and Choutarou really, really wanted to see Shishido do it more. But more than that he wanted to be inside Shishido when he does it, to feel him tighten around his cock the way he tightened around his fingers a moment before.

Choutarou blushed just a little at the way his thoughts sounded like one of those erotic stories he read online while jerking off in the pre-handjob phase of his relationship with Shishido, but he still removed his fingers from Shishido's ass and fumbled to put on the condom and lube up.

“I'm putting it in, Ryou,” Choutarou warned, starting to slide into Shishido's warmth. Shishido hissed a little and distracted himself from the discomfort by biting down on Choutarou's shoulder. Choutarou suspected that if it weren't for their height difference he would have received a rather desperate kiss, but the bite was fine too.

In the end they both came pretty quickly, but Choutarou thought that it was better than his fantasies.

They did it three more times before the weekend was through.

-

Choutarou heard from Shishido a few days later that Atobe had been the lucky teammate that won the 'lame bet' that everyone had been participating in. Apparently he had won the bet on when they would end up together too.

He also learned that Mukahi-sempai was now taking bets on when Shishido and Choutarou would get married. Choutarou had to admit that bet was pretty ridiculous and that it was probably just Mukahi grasping for ways to rile up Shishido. Not that it was hard to rile up Shishido to begin with.

When he went to bed that night Choutarou put a mint gum wrapper on the pillow beside him and dreamt of what it would be like to live with Shishido-san. It's a good dream. Definitely a lot less confusing than the ones he had been having the previous spring.


End file.
